Family Cars

The first four wheel vehicle I ever owned was a 1956 International Travelall. The thing had been built like a tank and had a top speed of about 55 mph (going downhill with a tail wind pushing). It was a great rig to take into the mountains and since that's where I lived it worked well. I had a steel I-beam welded to the frame that served as a front bumper. One day on frosty roads a car slammed into me head on. Damage to Travelall - paint transfers, handled with a rattle can of paint. Damage to the Buick that impacted me - total loss.

The year I was born (1955), my grandfather and father both bought Studebaker Hawks (Speedster models). Dad's was red/white and my grandfather's was black/white. They moved from Virginia to California in the summer and I was born in December.
My mother drove a 1953 Hudson Jet. Unlike the photo above, ours was gray. I think the Jet was the last car that Hudson made before they went out of business. As I recall there may have been a good reason for the company failing. Today's socialist American government would prop up a failing car company to the last nickel in the treasury but back then the law of supply and demand ruled. Studebaker met its demise in the 1960's. International went out of business in the 1970's. 

1961 - Retrospective

January, 1961 - LL with first girlfriend

There were a lot more things different in 1961 than me (though I was different then than I am now). The world was a lot simpler in many ways. Milkmen delivered milk then, there was no fast food, though hamburgers were still popular and cellular telephones weren't even the stuff of science fiction yet.

If you traveled by air, it was not by jet aircraft and the stewardesses on the airplanes were pretty (many now are hired by the pound - why hire a 120 lbs flight attendant when you can get twice the attendant for the same money).

My children think that I was born as a contemporary of the dinosaurs and there are times I think they're not that far off.

Movie Review: The Predator

My girls squeal that these movies are scary. I consider Alien vs Predator (AVP) a coming of age story where three young adolescent Predators land on Earth to engage in a rite of passage that involves taking on an Alien, killing it and claiming the skull as a trophy.

The Uber Predator comes to earth in Alien vs Predator Requiem (AVPR) following the crash of a Predator Scout Ship that releases a bunch of aliens. The Predator is more or less the Texas Ranger of Predators ("one riot, one Ranger") and he takes on the aliens to the stunning climax as a Colorado town becomes worse for the wear.

Bottom line, these movies are entertaining if you enjoy action, sci-fi and extraterrestrial combat.

Should Canada Join the United States?

There is a group that proposes this very thing. (CLICK HERE) 

Good Idea or Bad Idea?

Essentially the concept is that the Canadian Provinces be accepted into the US as States and operate as one nation based on common interests in economics, defense, politics, history and culture. Canada and the US are each other's largest trading partners. Together they would be arguably stronger than they are apart.

The Tummy Tub

In due consideration for my granddaughter, who should come into the world kicking and screaming within the next week, I was looking at innovative baby supplies I could buy, having more money in my pocket than brains in my head.

It's a frigging bucket. And they want $55.00 for it. A bucket at home depot (with somebody's logo on it) sells for $5.00.  I wonder if the Tummy Tub people will attack me here on this blog for calling their baby-friendly innovative device "a bucket". But look at it. That's precisely what it is. Amazon.com calls it a "spa baby European style tub". Well, if it's European, maybe that explains why it's so expensive. Do Europeans bathe their babies in $55 buckets? And if they do, does that mean that we should too?

One of the features amazon.com mentions is the fact that the bucket (spa baby European tub) is recyclable. I guess they don't think it will last as long as a regular bucket. I have buckets in the garage I've had for a decade and may never recycle because they last that long. Is the baby so hard on the bucket that it might crack soon in its service life? 

Roughly half of the people who bought this product on amazon.com gave it 1 of 5 possible stars. One lady wrote:

"I'm so surprised to read that other people actually like this tub! We received it as a gift while living in the UK and neither my husband and I nor our daughter liked it at all! She was squished into it so that she couldn't move and splash about and we found it really difficult to wash her. Our child also didn't like being swaddled, so perhaps she was just too much of a mover and shaker for this, but I certainly wouldn't recommend it to anyone."

From this review I can deduce that British people do buy these things. 

Craigslist Killer Romance

engagement photo ->

Ok, let me get this straight.

• Phillip Markoff robbed Trisha Leffler (29), who he met in the lonely hearts section of craigslist.org at a hotel in Boston on April 10 and took $800 cash and a $250 AMEX gift certificate. (whether she was a hooker is open for debate at the moment)
  
• Then the same guy murdered Julissa Brissman, a whore he found on craigslist.org, on April 14. (shot three times in the head and beat her up - I guess he's into rough sex)
  
• And his recent fiance, Megan McAllister (22), is calling the wedding off? (CNN) To view their wedding website, CLICK HERE. However, she still maintains that she's in love with him and it's really her parents that are tearing them apart.

My analysis: It's the government that has torn him from his fiance's grasp and he's likely going to be spending the rest of his natural life as a bunkie of "bubba" at the GrayBar Hotel, which is likely the best thing that ever happened to Megan McAllister.

Will she make another match?  Will the new fiance be a serial killer too?  Will Megan become famous on her book tour and her tearful appearance on the Oprah Winfrey Show?

I'm guessing the answer to all three questions is YES.

What Am I Thinking?

Guys, are you ever perplexed by women? 

The thing that drives me (most) insane about women in general and it applies to my beloved daughters is that they expect men to read their minds. 

I've been told before (living in a household of women) that they want us, meaning men, to anticipate their moods, needs and wants. 

it's impossible

Men are disarmingly simple creatures. Women give us too much credit for guile. The male brain revolves around sex, food and play. That's IT women. I've heard women say that it's insulting to women that men only think about those three things.

 

Uh, SORRY. We're men. We can't help it.

Don't get me wrong, balancing sex, food and play isn't as easy as it sounds. This life we men live requires a balance and it's usually not fulfilled to the extent it's needed. To an extent, sex can be offset by more toys and a meal. 

I do hear women say, "I don't understand men." 

I reply, "sex, food, toys." They shake their heads -- it can't be THAT simple.

Again, SORRY - it is.